When I was an undergraduate studying religion and philosophy at James Madison University, I was particularly interested in the embodied elements of religious practice. Western understandings of religion often give high priority to personal intellectual beliefs and give little thought to the way communal and sensory religious practices are central to religious experience. I came to understand physical behaviors and surroundings to be much more relevant to religious practice/belief and communal participation than I had previously understood them to be and it is for this reason that I am very interested in the physical spaces and actions associated with the hyperlinked library model. 

Embodiment as a significant theme jumped out to me suddenly while I was reading Leferink’s 2018 article for OCLC Next. Leferink focuses on the idea that although libraries have become highly digitized, it is public preference that books remain on display in library spaces. As digital as libraries have become, the actual physical and communal space is still extremely relevant to user experience. Leferink offers tips for improvement to physical library spaces such as designing the space to meet particular user needs and bringing nature into the building. Leferink’s article was a strong starting point, but I quickly realized more of the immense parallels between my interest in embodied practice and the participatory model of the hyperlinked library. 

I feel that a way to understand how the significance of embodied practice/ritual relates to the hyperlinked library model is to see how it is present in some of the characteristics outlined in Dr. Stephens’ Hyperlinked Library White Paper (2011). 

1. The Library Learns and Plays
   • Experimental play is encouraged for library staff as a form of continuous learning and problem solving. This is highly embodied as staff engage with their environment, patrons, and colleagues. This active engagement leads to discovery and has the capacity to turn thoughts into action. Beyond that, embodied action can reinforce or create new thought!
2. The Library Connects with Users
   • Conversation is a highly sensory experience, and is also noted in the White Paper as a main way to build connection in community. Connection with one’s library community is foundational and allows patrons to actively participate in building the library experience that they want to see.
3. The Library is Everywhere
   • Movement is relevant in order for libraries to meet users where they are. Mobile libraries are a fantastic embodied way for libraries to meet their users where they are. I also feel it is relevant to note that embodied practice can still relate to technology. Things like chatting with a friend on Zoom, performing a search for a new recipe, or following a youtube yoga class are all embodied practices, even though this embodiment is facilitated by an electronic device.
4. The Library Encourages the Heart
   • Encouraging the heart of library users relates greatly to embodied ritual and aesthetic practices. As is stated by Dr. Stephens, encouraging the heart in the library can be things such as putting up beautiful artwork, or having kind and welcoming staff. The physical/virtual space, and the behaviors of the people in it are what encourage the heart for library users.

A large link that I have found throughout this exploration is that both the hyperlinked library model, and religion (through my lens of study) are built through the embodied actions and practices. The hyperlinked library model resists being solely theoretical, as it is the actual action and learning undertaken by both staff and patrons that decides what the hyperlinked library actually is. 

Things to Explore

Here is a link to one of the papers that inspired my fascination with religious embodied practice: https://muse-jhu-edu.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/article/701997

Here is a video that outlines ways for librarians to incorporate personal forms of embodiment into their work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AtdlLrv8ME

References

Leferink, S. (2018, January 24). To keep people happy … keep some books. OCLC Next. https://blog.oclc.org/next/to-keep-people-happy-keep-some-books/

Ogunnaike, O. (2018). Performing Realization: The Sufi Music Videos of the Taalibe Baye of Dakar. African Arts, 51(3), 26-39. https://doi.org/10.1162/afar_a_00414

Stephens, M. (2011, February 21). The Hyperlinked Library: A TTW White Paper. Tame the Web. https://tametheweb.com/2011/02/21/hyperlinkedlibrary2011/